PW Singer Talks Cyberwar at SXSW on Saturday, March 8

Driving back to Austin after the SXSW Meet Up in San Antonio in mid-January, I stumbled across the familiar voice of Terry Gross and Fresh Air on my car radio. The episode broadcast that evening was compelling (particularly with regards to the big programming announcement that we had made earlier that day). Gross created a fascinating conversation with the Director of the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence at the Brookings Institution concerning his new book on the imminent concerns regarding cybersecurity for the decade ahead.

The man in the Fresh Air interview will cover many of these same issues at the 2014 SXSW Interactive Festival. Don’t miss “Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know” with PW Singer on Saturday, March 8 at the Austin Convention Center. Asked to describe what he will cover in this solo presentation, Singer explains: “Today, our entire modern way of life, from communication to commerce to conflict, fundamentally depends on the Internet. And the security issues that result challenge literally everyone: politicians wrestling with everything from cybercrime to online freedom; generals protecting the nation from new forms of attack, while planning new cyberwars; executives defending firms from once unimaginable threats, and looking to make money off of them; journalists reporting new stories, and using new tools to do so. Most of all, cybersecurity issues challenge us as individuals. We face new questions in everything from our rights and responsibilities as citizens of both the online and real world to simply how to protect ourselves and our families from a new type of danger. And, yet there is perhaps no issue that has grown so important, so quickly, and touches so many, that remains so poorly understood.”

The “Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know” session on Saturday, March 8 at 12:30 pm is part of the IEEE Tech 4 Humanity Series at SXSW 2014. At 1:40 pm, immediately after his session concludes, meet PW Singer at his book signing outside the SX bookstore.

For more information on sessions at the 2014 SXSW Interactive Festival, visit the day-by-day schedule. Also, check out the Recommendations page for some intriguing staff picks of the best of the best of the best programming for this March in Austin.